Pepto Bismo Dreams Ch. 01

Views from the bathroom window while waiting for that memorable Chili, Pizza, Doritos and beer dinner feeling to go away.

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The house stood high atop a bluff overlooking the Okanogan river and the little town of Jessup. The long dead builder's vision of grandeur placed it dangerously near the edge of the high bluff. Only a wooden fence five feet high stood between the house and a long, long drop. The fence was built inches from the very edge.

The land proved more stable than the many doubters believed when it was built in 1897. None expected the fence to still be standing ten years later and gruesome predictions of the houses fate filled the gossips for years. Vindictive visions of mudslides had seen first the fence, then the big Victorian house collapsing down the crumbling face of the bluff, taking the family along with it.

The handsome Victorian had been remodeled various times; enlarging the once fashionable small rooms to more modern needs, the kitchen had undergone major upgrades four times. Electricity had replaced gas lighting early, the plumbing had been redone three times in its entirety.

Many families made the old showplace home during the 20th century and one strange feature had fascinated every man of the house who called himself the house's master. The master bedroom was situated on the third floor and from the first had been graced with an en suite bath. On the East wall of the bath, overlooking the river valley and its town, Jessup, the builder had placed a window.

The window was high on the wall, but allowed a man of better than average height to look out and enjoy a sweeping view of the grandeur of the river valley. Their mates on the other hand were only given a view of the high blue sky and what clouds happened by in this dry Eastern Washington locale.

A similar view would have been expected from the bedroom windows except for the café curtains and tall evergreen trees that masked the near view into Jessup.

The women living with those men were therefore totally unaware of the most entrancing aspect of the view from the window. A man of slightly more than average height and standing at the window found himself looking directly down on the back yards and windows of the townsfolk below. If the women had been aware of the view they would immediately have believed the townspeople had a similar view into the bathroom from the town. The window would have immediately been painted over or otherwise masked.

The men folk, being normally inquisitive and male, discovered immediately that unless a man pressed his nose directly against the glass or the light was on in the bathroom he was unnoticeable. It became apparent soon after discovering the window that the drapes to the windows on the backs of those houses were rarely drawn. High fences guarded the townsfolk's privacy from intrusion giving the inhabitants a strong feeling of privacy.

The window was much, much higher than any fence could be built.

Thus were born generations of voyeurs from the builders' family, generation upon generation.

As the years went on the graceful Victorian was sold time and again, to the delight of men from other families who were then allowed to study the habits of the men and women living in the town below.

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This is the house on the hill that will be featured in upcoming Pepto Bismo Dreams. The first, Harvey J. Appleton is posted with this introduction.

Authors, you are welcome to use the Pepto Bismo Dreams and The House on the Hill as a basis for a story if the setting kicks your creativity. The only things I ask is that you include The House on the Hill in its entirety as a lead in to your story, that you use Pepto Bismo Dreams somewhere in the title and attribute "the Troubador."

As always I enjoy feedback. Remember, it does not have to be gentle but please maks comments about the story not whether you like this kind of story. The people who will be populating the classic Victorian will be all types and all kinds.

Again, if you pet a dog, he will give you a lick in thanks, if you kick him he will give you a lick to show he still cares for you. Two things, give this dog a chance to get his licks in and use your name. I'm the only one who will see it, and I have met many friends on the 'net through signed comments. Positive or negative, if it is what you believe it is fine. I give little credit to a comment that doesn't include a name.